Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF
The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF collection is comprised of four models, most of which are offered in a choice of stainless steel or 18-carat rose gold. These new creations are aimed at a young, discerning audience who appreciate the charms of Haute Horlogerie.
Introduction
I must confess Parmigiani Fleurier is a brand close to my heart. Several years ago, I toured the company’s numerous production facilities and it left an indelible impression on me. With the exception of Seiko and Swatch, I can think of no other brand that can rival Parmigiani Fleurier when it comes to vertical integration. If you appraise one of the brand’s watches, every part is made in-house, save for the sapphire crystal, rubies and Hermès strap.
The firm owns a dialmaking facility (Quadrance & Habillage) and produces cases (Les Artisans Boîtiers). It has two component factories, Elwin and Atokalpa, both part of SFF Composants Horlogers. Lastly, this latter firm, a sister company of Parmigiani Fleurier, is a major shareholder in movement specialist, Vaucher. While these companies supply the constituent parts for Parmigiani Fleurier’s watches, they are also entrusted with producing numerous components for a plethora of additional watch brands.
The background of Michel Parmigiani, the founder of the eponymous brand, has strongly influenced the culture of the brand. A son of the Val de Travers, Monsieur Parmigiani is renowned for his expertise in restoring automata, clocks and watches. Along with his team of skilled artisans and watchmakers, Michel has restored many priceless artefacts for a number of prestigious museums.
Image – Michel Parmigiani
With his vast experience of restoration, Parmigiani employs materials and techniques which confer longevity. The watches that bear his name lend themselves to servicing, repair and restoration, not in 10 or 15 years time, but 150 years and more from now. This approach provides a refreshing alternative to the so-called throwaway society we witness each day.
The Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF – a new era
Recently, during Geneva Watch Days, I chatted to Guido Terreni, the CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier. Terreni joined the firm in February 2021 and has wasted no time in making his mark.
Image – Guido Terreni
Those aficionados familiar with Parmigiani Fleurier will be aware of its Tonda collection. This extensive array of models ranges from the Tonda 1950, with two hands and a small seconds display, to high complications such as perpetual calendars, rattrapantes and tourbillons. However, all Tonda’s share one thing in common, they are housed in round cases. In 2020, the firm unveiled the Tonda GT and Tondagraphe, two gorgeous sports watches that have proved incredibly popular among horophiles.
Now, under the auspices of Terreni, the Maison has just released the Parmgiani Fleurier Tonda PF collection. This is a diverse collection of models, including micro-rotor, annual calendar, chronograph and rattrapante options. With the exception of the rattrapante, all other variants are offered in a choice of stainless steel or 18-carat rose gold. Interestingly, each stainless steel case is paired with a platinum bezel, introducing yet another point of differentiation.
These watches harness all that is virtuous about Parmigiani Fleurier ownership but with an added dose of modernity. Indeed, Terreni is unequivocal, the new Tonda PF collection is aimed at ‘the watchmaking purists of tomorrow’.
Parmigiani Fleurier has skilfully incorporated some traditional PF design elements such as the Delta-shaped hour and minute hands, albeit in openworked form. The dials also incorporate traditional guilloché while still remaining resolutely contemporary.
Put simply, the Parmigiani Fleurier Tonda PF upholds the no-compromise standards of Monsieur Parmigiani but also embraces a youthful appearance. In the coming months, I hope to get hands-on with various examples of this latest collection and critique them in detail.
The brand’s press release
With a judicious sense of detail, pattern, shape and curve, the Tonda PF is Parmigiani Fleurier’s latest and most forward-looking collection. Released as the watchmaking brand celebrates its 25th anniversary, these new integrated bracelet timepieces take attention to craft, complication and streamlined aesthetics to a new high. One that doesn’t scream expensive but says excellence. One that is created to satisfy purists looking for a high-end, finespun timepiece. The Tonda PF collection is built around the most iconic in-house movements of the maison, running a wide gamut of complications, and culminating in a limited edition, all-platinum, award-winning split-seconds chronograph.
The Tonda PF Collection
The Tonda PF collection inaugurates a new brand signature. The PF logo appears at 12 o’clock, nestled in a vertical, oval, double-edged appliqué with extensive finishings, a harbinger of the level of care put into the collection. The indices of each timepiece are set across two levels of the dial, while the Grain d’Orge guilloché dial pattern is the finest imaginable. Any smaller and it would have become invisible. Any larger, it would have become obvious, therefore defeating the purpose of this line: imperceptible refinement, entire dedication to exclusivity, modern permanence.
The Tonda PF is an entirely new collection of timepieces within the Tonda family, featuring Parmigiani Fleurier’s most distinctive complications from the outset. This includes the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor, a slim, pared-down, high-end two-hander with platinum micro-rotor. The Tonda PF Chronograph features an almost flush dial and an integrated high frequency chronograph movement. The Tonda PF Annual Calendar with retrograde date demonstrates how discretely and astutely advanced indications can be integrated into a pared-down design. All three models are available in steel with platinum hand-knurled bezel or entirely crafted in 18ct rose gold.
At the top of the range, Parmigiani Fleurier is grooming a limited series of the Tonda PF Split Seconds Chronograph. Fitting for a 25th Anniversary, its 25 pieces feature a dial, case and bracelet made of platinum 950, whose high frequency, openworked, split seconds chronograph movement is built out of solid gold.
Sartorial Savvy
Everywhere the eye lands on a Tonda PF, there’s a particular texture, form, detail to be seen and enjoyed. This is not ornament, ostentation or opulence. This is a mature, sartorial approach to watchmaking, where cloth is replaced by metal and weaving by dial pattern. The cutting and fitting of the shoulders and waistline take on the form of case and bracelet. Like in a Neapolitan or Sicilian workshop, these are entirely focused on silhouette, fluidity, proportions and taste. Like any jacket that originates in those institutions of male elegance, the Tonda PF is tailored to withstand the passing of time and trends, and remain.
Its specific hands are made of solid gold. Slim and long, they’re almost entirely openworked and of completely new design. The bezel, a direct heritage from the Tonda collection, features a sleek, polished part and another that’s been knurled by hand, and is crafted out of solid platinum 950 for the steel models. Rather than using the same steel as the rest of the case and bracelet, Parmigiani Fleurier has elected to work with this highly precious metal. Not for the sake of exclusivity, but because it provides a better, shinier play with light and a more artisanal feeling once polished by hand.
The case band on all four references of the Tonda PF line deserves closer examination. It is not straight, but slightly bassiné, i.e. wider near the bezel and narrower on the wrist. This provides the overall design with a sense of increased slimness. The surface is horizontal-satin-finished all around as is the upper surface of the lugs.
The Tonda PF Micro-Rotor
The Tonda PF Micro-Rotor measures 40 mm in diameter and owes its pure aesthetic to the uncluttered warm grey, matte guilloché dial. It inaugurates a new version of Parmigiani Fleurier’s fundamental movement, the PF703. This ultra-slim, 3 mm thick engine is selfwinding thanks to a full platinum micro-rotor. This diminutive oscillating weight is integrated inside the movement’s structure rather than lying on top of it. The gain in height is considerable. This in turn allows the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor to measure a mere 7.8 mm on the wrist, ensuring comfort and elegance.
In an unusual and exclusive combination, it features hours, minutes and date. The date disc is the exact same colour as the minute track’s, creating a consistent colourway. Combined with its slimness and sleekness, this makes the Tonda PF Micro-Rotor a refined everyday timepiece that can literally be worn on any occasion.
The Tonda PF Chronograph
The 42 mm Tonda PF Chronograph exemplifies how a particular design can shift according to the specific requirements of a complication. The 5 Hz Caliber PF070 is an integrated, high frequency, column wheel movement with small seconds and two registers. Integrating three counters on the Tonda PF Chronograph’s thinly guilloché dial demands finesse.
Parmigiani Fleurier maintains an almost flush surface by using thinly sandblasted minute track and counter outlines on the discrete blue dial. The pushers have been fused with the profile of the Tonda PF Chronograph’s lugs. This model, along with the Tonda PF Annual Calendar, premieres a new oscillating weight in 22ct rose gold, widely openworked with a central PF logo medallion.
The Tonda PF Annual Calendar
The 42 mm Tonda PF Annual Calendar transcends the aesthetics that had thus far been associated with Parmigiani Fleurier’s annual calendar movement. Calibre PF339 presents a retrograde date, day, month and 122-year moonphase as visible in both hemispheres. As they come on top of the three usual time-telling hands, the very nature of the general design of the collection was at stake.
By pushing the date outwards onto the minute track and using discretely outlined counters on the warm grey guilloché dial, Parmigiani Fleurier has managed to balance the pared-down equilibrium of the collection’s design language and an elaborate layout.
The Tonda PF Split Seconds Chronograph
At the top of the collection lies an exceptional timepiece. Limited to just 25 units as an homage to the maison’s 25th Anniversary, the Tonda PF Split Seconds Chronograph gives prominence to the best craftsmanship available at Parmigiani Fleurier. The case and bracelet of this timepiece are crafted in platinum. In a deserved exception to the collection’s rule, Parmigiani Fleurier has opted for an extremely rare, solid platinum dial to match the deep lustre and specific sheen of the case and bracelet, while its sandblasted finish maintains the matte, finely textured theme of the collection.
Calibre PF361 is a new version of the manufacture’s most high-end calibre, the GPHG-awarded ChronOr. Three characteristics make this movement a truly exceptional creation. One, its mainplate and bridges are made of solid 18ct rose gold. Two, they’re extensively openworked, satin-finished and bevelled, even though the dial is a closed one. Three, it is an integrated, high frequency split seconds chronograph. It allows optimal timekeeping of two events starting at the same time, down to the 10th of a second.
A Purist’s Delight for Those in the Know
All Tonda PF timepieces speak first and foremost to their owner and wearer. On point, extensive, highly studied details build up to a general result which endow the whole Tonda PF collection with acute contemporary elegance. Not in an ornamental manner. This is not a conspicuous object of luxury. This is the incarnation of a culture of savoir faire that addresses a certain crowd, able to recognize its sense of refinement.
As Guido Terreni, CEO of Parmigiani Fleurier so eloquently sums up: “We have conceived the Tonda PF for the watchmaking purists of tomorrow. An uncompromising crowd of a select few, seeking personal hedonistic pleasure, who are savvy in watchmaking, appreciate sartorial craft on their timepieces, and have a strong sense of style and refinement.”
Further reading